Dating Background Check

Austin-Based, Available Nationwide

Online dating asks you to decide about someone from a profile they wrote themselves. A dating background check looks for the record behind it: whether the person is who they say they are, whether the basic facts hold up, and whether there is anything in the public record you would want to know before meeting them. Much of this can be established from records, and some of it cannot.

People ask for this before a first meeting, before a relationship becomes serious, or when something doesn’t seem to add up. It is quite reasonable to want to check, and actually is a prudent step.

What we need from you

A name is enough to begin. Anything else you have makes the search faster and more certain: a phone number, an email address, social media accounts, where they say they work, a city, an age or date of birth, photographs from the profile.

Inconsistencies you’ve noted are worth mentioning too.

What the check covers

Identity verification is the first priority. We work to confirm that the name, age, and location belong to a real person matching the one you have been speaking to, and that the accounts and photographs trace back to them rather than to someone else.

From there the search draws on investigative databases available to licensed investigators, public records and open-source research. Depending on what exists, that can include criminal and traffic records, sex offender registry status, marriage and divorce records, court filings, bankruptcies, liens and judgments, property ownership, address history, employment and education history, business affiliations, and public social media activity.

Two things clients most often want settled are whether the person has a criminal history, and whether they are actually single. Both come from records rather than from asking, and neither depends on the subject's cooperation.

What it cannot tell you

A check that finds nothing adverse means the records show nothing adverse. It does not mean a person is safe, honest, or good for you. Some people who behave badly in relationships have no criminal record, and a clean report is not a character reference. Read it as one input among several, alongside how someone actually treats you.

Records are also incomplete by nature. Not every jurisdiction reports the same things, arrests are not convictions, sealed and expunged matters do not appear, and someone who has recently moved may have a thinner record than their history warrants. Where a finding is limited or uncertain, the report says so rather than rounding it into a conclusion.

And a thin online footprint is a finding, not evidence of anything. Plenty of people simply do not post.

When the records do not settle it

This check answers who someone is. It does not answer what they are doing now, and those are different questions with different tools.

If your question is specifically whether a partner is seeing someone else, that is an infidelity investigation, and it is worth starting there rather than here. More generally, where you need to establish what someone is actually doing, a Vehicle Sightings Search shows where a person's vehicle has been photographed over time, and surveillance documents activity directly, as it happens.

All of these are separate engagements with their own agreements, and the in-person work covers Austin and Central Texas rather than being available nationwide. The same limits on lawful purpose apply, and they matter more once someone is being watched rather than looked up.

Discretion

The work is conducted from records, databases and open-source research. It does not involve contacting the subject, their employer, or anyone who knows them, so nothing about the search reaches the person you are checking.

Lawful use

This service is for checking someone you are considering dating, or have recently begun seeing. We confirm the purpose during the consultation, and the written agreement includes a certification you sign before any work begins.

We will not run a check intended to stalk, harass, threaten or intimidate anyone, we will not take a case where a protective, restraining or no-contact order is in effect against the client with respect to the subject. We do not do ongoing monitoring of anyone.

We do not hack accounts, use deception to reach private profiles, or send fake connection requests. Everything in the report comes from lawful open-source methods, public records, and databases we are licensed to use.

One thing worth knowing about the law

A dating background check is an investigative report, not a consumer report. It is not prepared for, and may not be used to make, decisions about employment, credit, tenancy or insurance, which are governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act and require a different kind of report from a consumer reporting agency. For its actual purpose, deciding whether to meet or continue seeing someone, that distinction costs you nothing.

What you receive

A written investigative report, prepared and reviewed by a licensed investigator. It states what was searched, what each source returned, and what the findings do and do not establish, with supporting documentation.

Turnaround is generally one to five days, and afterwards you can call a real person and talk it through.

Frequently asked questions